1976 Italian general election

1976 Italian general election
Italy
← 1972 20 June 1976 1979 →
Chamber of Deputies

All 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
316 seats needed for a majority
Turnout93.4% (Increase 0.2 pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/–
DC Benigno Zaccagnini 38.71 262 -4
PCI Enrico Berlinguer 34.37 229 +50
PSI Francesco De Martino 9.64 57 -4
MSI Giorgio Almirante 6.10 35 -21
PSDI Pier Luigi Romita 3.38 15 -14
PRI Oddo Biasini 3.09 14 -1
DP Mario Capanna 1.52 6 New
PLI Valerio Zanone 1.31 5 -15
PR Marco Pannella 1.07 4 New
SVP Silvius Magnago 0.50 3 0
Senate of the Republic

All 315 seats in the Senate of the Republic
162 seats needed for a majority
Turnout93.4% (Increase 0.1 pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/–
DC Benigno Zaccagnini 38.88 135 0
PCI Enrico Berlinguer 33.83 116 +22
PSI Francesco De Martino 10.20 30 -3
MSI Giorgio Almirante 6.63 15 -11
PSDI Pier Luigi Romita 3.10 7 -4
PRI Oddo Biasini 2.69 7 +2
PLI Valerio Zanone 1.39 2 -6
SVP Silvius Magnago 0.50 2 0
UV–others Jean-Claude Perrin 0.07 1 0
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after the election
Aldo Moro
DC
Giulio Andreotti
DC

The 1976 Italian general election was held in Italy on 20 June 1976. It was the first election after the voting age was lowered to 18.

The Christian Democracy remained stable with around 38% of votes, Enrico Berlinguer's Italian Communist Party made a great jump winning 7 points more than four years before: this result, which was quite homogeneous in the entire society because confirmed by the electors of the age-restricted Senate, began to show the possibility of a future change of the Italian government leadership. All minor parties lost many votes to the DC in the attempt to fight the Communist progress: between them, the historic Italian Liberal Party was nearly annihilated. Two new leftist forces made their debut in this election: the ultra-liberal Radical Party, which had led a successful referendum on divorce, and the far-left Trotskyist Proletarian Democracy.

Electoral system

The pure party-list proportional representation had traditionally become the electoral system for the Chamber of Deputies. Italian provinces were united in 32 constituencies, each electing a group of candidates. At constituency level, seats were divided between open lists using the largest remainder method with Imperiali quota. Remaining votes and seats were transferred at national level, where they were divided using the Hare quota, and automatically distributed to best losers into the local lists.

For the Senate, 237 single-seat constituencies were established, even if the assembly had risen to 315 members. The candidates needed a landslide victory of two thirds of votes to be elected, a goal which could be reached only by the German minorities in South Tirol. All remained votes and seats were grouped in party lists and regional constituencies, where a D'Hondt method was used: inside the lists, candidates with the best percentages were elected.

Historical background

Although the 1970s in Italy was marked by violence, it was also a time of great social and economic progress. Following the civil disturbances of the 1960s, Christian Democracy and its allies in government (including the Socialist Party) introduced a wide range of political, social, and economic reforms. Regional governments were introduced in the spring of 1970, with elected councils provided with the authority to legislate in areas like public works, town planning, social welfare, and health. Spending on the relatively poor South was significantly increased, while new laws relating to index-linked pay, public housing, and pension provision were also passed. In 1975, a law was passed entitling redundant workers to receive at least 80% of their previous salary for up to a year from a state insurance fund. Living standards also continued to rise, with wages going up by an average of about 25% a year from the early 1970s onwards, and between 1969 and 1978, average real wages rose by 72%. Various fringe benefits were raised to the extent that they amounted to an additional 50% to 60% on wages, the highest in any country in the Western world. In addition, working hours were reduced so that by the end of the decade they were lower than any other country apart from Belgium. Some categories of workers who were laid off received generous unemployment compensation which represented only a little less than full wages, often years beyond eligibility. Initially, these benefits were primarily enjoyed by industrial workers in northern Italy where the “Hot Autumn” had its greatest impact, but these benefits soon spread to other categories of workers in other areas. In 1975, the escalator clause was strengthened in wage contracts, providing a high proportion of workers with nearly 100% indexation, with quarterly revisions, thereby increasing wages nearly as fast as prices.

A statute of worker’s rights that was drafted and pushed into enactment in 1970 by the Socialist labour minister Giacomo Brodolini, greatly strengthened the authority of the trade unions in the factories, outlawed dismissal without just cause, guaranteed freedom of assembly and speech on the shop floor, forbade employers to keep records of the union or political affiliations of their workers, and prohibited hiring except through the state employment office.

In 1973, the Italian Communist Party's General Secretary Enrico Berlinguer launched a proposal for a "democratic alliance" with the Christian Democracy, embraced by Aldo Moro. This alliance was inspired by the Allende Government in Chile, that was composed by a left-wing coalition Popular Unity and supported by the Christian Democratic Party. After the Chilean coup of the same year, there was an approach between PCI and DC, that became a political alliance in 1976. In this time, the Berlinguer's PCI attempted to distance his party from the USSR, with the launch of the "Eurocommunism" along with the Spanish Communist Party and the French Communist Party.

In July 1975, a Christian leftist, Benigno Zaccagnini, became the new Secretary of Christian Democracy.

Parties and leaders

Party Ideology Leader Seats in 1972
C S Total
Christian Democracy (DC) Christian democracy Benigno Zaccagnini
266
135
401
Italian Communist Party (PCI) Eurocommunism Enrico Berlinguer
179
94
273
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) Democratic socialism Francesco De Martino
61
33
94
Italian Social Movement (MSI) Neo-fascism Giorgio Almirante
56
26
82
Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) Social democracy Pier Luigi Romita
29
11
40
Italian Liberal Party (PLI) Conservative liberalism Valerio Zanone
21
8
29
Italian Republican Party (PRI) Republicanism Oddo Biasini
15
5
20
Proletarian Democracy (DP) Trotskyism Mario Capanna
New
Radical Party (PR) Radicalism Marco Pannella
Did not run

Results

Faced with the rise of the PCI, many centrist politicians and businessmen began to think how to avoid the possibility of a Communist victory that could turn Italy into a Soviet-aligned State. The DC leadership thought to gradually involve the Communists in governmental policies so as to moderate their aims, as had been done with the Socialists previously. The man who was chosen to lead this attempt did not belong to the leftist wing of the DC, as had happened with the PSI moderation effort, but the moderate leader and former-PM Giulio Andreotti, so as to balance the situation and calm the markets. The first government reliant on support from the communists was thus formed, when the PCI decided to grant its external support. However this process, called National Solidarity, was dramatically ended by the terrorist attacks of the Red Brigades, which saw the kidnapping and murder of former-PM Aldo Moro. The country was shocked by these killings, and the Communists returned to full opposition. Giulio Andreotti's subsequent attempt to form a classic centre-left government with the Socialists failed, and a new general election was called for 1979.

Chamber of Deputies

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Christian Democracy14,209,51938.71262−4
Italian Communist Party12,614,65034.37228+49
Italian Socialist Party3,540,3099.6457−4
Italian Social Movement2,238,3396.1035−21
Italian Democratic Socialist Party1,239,4923.3815−14
Italian Republican Party1,135,5463.0914−1
Proletarian Democracy557,0251.526New
Italian Liberal Party480,1221.315−15
Radical Party394,4391.074New
South Tyrolean People's Party184,3750.5030
PCIPSIPdUP26,7480.0710
UVDCRVUVPPRI24,0910.070–1
Popular Democrats–Regionalist Movement UVP20,2340.0600
New People's Party10,9270.030New
Slovene Union8,1830.020New
Tyrol Party7,6640.020New
European Workers' Party5,5220.020New
Independence Movement of the Free Territory of Trieste4,5400.010New
Democratic Party2,7970.010New
Democratic Left Party1,7570.000New
Welfare and Civilization Party1,2990.000New
Total36,707,578100.006300
Valid votes36,707,57897.23
Invalid/blank votes1,047,5122.77
Total votes37,755,090100.00
Registered voters/turnout40,426,65893.39
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Popular vote
DC
38.71%
PCI
34.37%
PSI
9.64%
MSI-DN
6.10%
PSDI
3.38%
PRI
3.09%
DP
1.52%
PLI
1.31%
PR
1.07%
Others
0.81%
Seats
DC
41.59%
PCI
36.19%
PSI
9.05%
MSI-DN
5.56%
PSDI
2.38%
PRI
2.22%
DP
0.95%
PLI
0.79%
PR
0.63%
Others
0.63%

Results by constituency

Constituency Total
seats
Seats won
DC PCI PSI MSI-DN PSDI PRI DP PLI PR Others
Turin 38 13 15 4 1 1 1 1 1 1
Cuneo 16 7 5 1 1 1 1
Genoa 22 8 9 2 1 1 1
Milan 52 19 19 6 2 1 2 1 1 1
Como 19 9 5 2 1 1 1
Brescia 21 12 5 2 1 1
Mantua 8 4 3 1
Trentino 9 4 1 1 3
Verona 28 16 6 3 1 1 1
Venice 16 8 5 2 1
Udine 13 6 4 2 1
Bologna 27 7 14 2 1 1 2
Parma 19 6 10 2 1
Florence 15 5 9 1
Pisa 14 6 7 1
Siena 9 3 5 1
Ancona 16 7 7 1 1
Perugia 12 4 6 1 1
Rome 55 19 20 4 5 2 2 1 1 1
L'Aquila 14 7 5 1 1
Campobasso 4 3 1
Naples 39 15 14 3 4 1 1 1
Benevento 18 9 5 1 2 1
Bari 23 10 8 2 2 1
Lecce 18 8 6 2 2
Potenza 8 4 3 1
Catanzaro 23 10 8 3 2
Catania 29 12 8 2 4 1 1 1
Palermo 25 12 7 2 2 1 1
Cagliari 16 7 7 1 1
Aosta Valley 1 1
Trieste 3 2 1
Total 630 262 228 57 35 15 14 6 5 4 4

Senate of the Republic

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Christian Democracy12,227,35338.881350
Italian Communist Party10,637,77233.83116+22
Italian Socialist Party3,208,16410.2029−4
Italian Social Movement2,086,4306.6315−11
Italian Democratic Socialist Party974,9403.106−5
Italian Republican Party846,4152.696+1
Italian Liberal Party438,2651.392−6
PLIPRIPSDI334,8981.0620
Radical Party265,9470.850New
South Tyrolean People's Party158,5840.5020
Proletarian Democracy78,1700.250New
PCIPSI52,9220.171+1
PLIPRI51,3530.1600
UVDCRVUVPPRI22,9170.0710
PCIPSIPdUP21,0720.070New
Popular Democrats – UVP17,6990.0600
Slovene Union9,0230.030New
Tyrol Party7,1930.0200
New People's Party4,8270.020New
Democratic Party3,0740.010New
Daisy Group1,8920.010New
Ave Group5210.000New
Total31,449,431100.003150
Valid votes31,449,43196.41
Invalid/blank votes1,172,1503.59
Total votes32,621,581100.00
Registered voters/turnout34,928,21493.40
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Popular vote
DC
38.88%
PCI
33.83%
PSI
10.20%
MSI
6.63%
PSDI
3.10%
PRI
2.69%
PLI
1.39%
Others
3.28%
Seats
DC
42.86%
PCI
36.83%
PSI
9.21%
MSI
4.76%
PSDI
1.90%
PRI
1.90%
PLI
0.63%
Others
1.90%

Results by constituency

Constituency Total
seats
Seats won
DC PCI PSI MSI PSDI PRI PLI Others
Piedmont 25 10 9 2 1 1 1 1
Aosta Valley 1 1
Lombardy 48 21 16 6 2 1 1 1
Trentino-Alto Adige 7 3 1 1 2
Veneto 23 14 6 2 1
Friuli-Venezia Giulia 7 4 2 1
Liguria 10 4 4 1 1
Emilia-Romagna 22 7 12 2 1
Tuscany 20 7 10 2 1
Umbria 7 2 4 1
Marche 8 4 4
Lazio 27 10 10 2 3 1 1
Abruzzo 7 4 3
Molise 2 1 1
Campania 29 12 10 2 3 1 1
Apulia 20 9 7 2 2
Basilicata 7 3 3 1
Calabria 11 5 4 1 1
Sicily 26 11 8 2 3 1 1
Sardinia 8 4 3 1
Total 315 135 116 29 15 6 6 2 6

Foreign involvement

The rise of the PCI sparked significant concerns among Italy's NATO allies about a communist government in Italy. Through the Information Research Department (IRD), the British Foreign Office took several measures to prevent a PCI victory, including sending journalists anti-communist lines to use in their articles and circulating forged RIA Novosti pamphlets to bolster claims that the Soviet Union was interfering in the election.


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